USPS Says Delivering Election Mail Is Top Priority Amid Concerns in Package Volume
The U.S. Postal Service assured that the surge in package volume due to Amazon Prime Day will not affect the election mail delivery, which is just three weeks ahead of Election Day.
A USPS spokesperson confirmed that election mail would not be affected by a pending uptick of Amazon delivery packages.
The spokesperson said that the packages are processed on different equipment than mail. He also added that their top priority is delivering election mail.
"We are 100 percent committed throughout the Postal Service to fulfilling our vital role in the nation's electoral process by securely and timely delivering all ballots pursuant to our long-established processes and procedures," the spokesperson was quoted in an emailed statement.
He claimed that the USPS is flexible enough to process and deliver even with increase in volume of mail and packages.
USPS has faced various concerns and issues regarding its capability to handle election mails.
USPS Issues
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned USPS' ability to handle the election.
Trump claimed that mail-in voting is a "disaster" and "out of control" without providing enough evidence.
He also accused the Democrats of stealing the election despite having no proof.
Trump said in a report that everybody knows the ballots are out of control, adding that the Democrats know it better than anybody else.
On Sept. 24, Trump said they just want to make sure that the election is honest.
However, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency head, Chris Krebs, said that they have a lot of confidence that the ballots are secure as it has ever been.
Krebs added that they have been working on improving election security for three-and-a-half years.
USPS Workers' Cases
Aside from attacks to the credibility of USPS, certain cases of mail dumped somewhere did not assuage public concerns.
Recently, a USPS worker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was removed from duty after allegedly throwing away pieces of mail, which includes at least one mail-in ballot request.
The mail was said to be delivered to residents in the Bloomfield neighborhood, according to USPS Office of Inspector General Special Agent Scott Balfour.
The USPS OIG received an information on Oct. 8 from employees at the Persad Center.
Reports said that an individual found the mail in a garbage can.
Persad Center is a mental health clinic in the Lawrenceville neighborhood.
Balfour said that USPS managed to recover many types of mail, including one ballot request and more than two dozen political advertisements.
The recovered mails were then sent to their respective recipients.
Balfour then urged the public to report an incident whenever they feel like a postal worker has committed a crime.
They can contact 888-USPS-OIG or uspsoig.gov.
Balfour said he'd like to highlight that postal workers are hard-working, trustworthy, and work around the clock to deliver the mail in certain parts of the country.
He added that incidents like this are "exceedingly rare," especially when put into context.
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